In 1979, our first vintage, Fred and I were invited to the opening of Far Niente Winery in the Napa Valley. It was a gala luncheon event at one of the valley’s most beautiful estates. As we were leaving, each guest was given an acorn from a Quercus sober tree, otherwise know as a cork tree. Fred and I planted the acorn on the top of a knoll by the Whitney’s Vineyard. Fred diligently carried water to this little plant for many years…..it grew slowly in the beginning and we were careful to protect it from the large delivery trucks coming and going in the initial development of our own wine estate.
One day I was horrified when a large truck backed up and pushed the tree over to the ground….not wanting to tell Fred the bad news, I decided to just pick the little tree up and push it back to its original position. The trunk, being cork and flexible, seem to think nothing of it. So today when you visit the winery and park in the guest parking lot near the top of the Whitney’s Vineyard you will see our rather handsome strong cork tree shading the parking area!
In preparation for spring, we have built a hoop house in Calistoga and have seedlings germinating as we speak! The hoop house is a simple shleter built using pvc pipe to form hoops that we then cover with a plastic visquine. This creates a warm area and allows us to start early seed germination of kale, fava beans and corn. Our main spring crops will be kale and fava beans which do well throughout the spring in the cold weather. As the weather warms and we enter summer, we will then plow the crops into the soil… as both fava beans and kale are crops high in nitrogen, they will help enrich the soil and allow our summer crops to be more fruitful. See below for photos…
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Below are some photos from a vineyard walk last week. The colors from the setting sun were incredible! While I was busy taking photos, the dogs were busy hunting gofers… they never catch them, but boy do they enjoy digging for them!
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This past Wednesday, while having lunch, we discovered this Northern Pygmy Owl purched above us in a Douglass Fir Tree! It is a great siting. These types of owls feed mostly on voles and small song birds (although they also like mice, moles, and weasels). Amazingly, they can fly with prey that is up to three times their own weight! Thank you to David Rasmussen of Eclectic Tour for this great photo!
Our first hive of bees arrived one week ago so we are now, officially, Bee Keepers!
It all started about two months ago when Juelle ran accross the website, www.beekind.com. minutes reading about the bees and she was hooked. She immediately placed an order for a hive. Mind you, we have never tended bees before! I was a little surprised, but very excited to start learning how to be Bee Keepers.
Our hive and box arrived one week ago. We chose to place the box in the Whitney’s Vineyard among the lavender, rosemary and roses… once everything begins to bloom, the bees will be in heaven! Until then, we supply them with sugar water ever three days. This ensures they have plenty of food to keep them healthy until the flowers are all in bloom.
We were also instructed to place the hive a few feet off the ground. This helps protect them from vermin. The theory is, if a varmint raises up on their hind legs to get into the house, the bees will sting their bellies until they retreat. I’m certainly not going to test the theory! So far, so safe.
We will not have honey until at least this fall and it may not be until next fall. It depends on how well they take to the area. We must be sure to leave some honey in their house this fall so they have plenty of food through the winter.
When I commented to Juelle on how beautiful the copper roof of their house was, she informed me that that is because these are “Show Bees!” We have two more colonies coming that will live in more modest houses also in Whitney’s Vineyard. Here’s to happy bees and local honey!
I was looking for a great, big, exciting story to report today, but it turns we are just busy preparing for the big stories to come!
Harvest bins appeared this morning, stacked around the drive entrance. The press and sorting table, although still covered for weather protection (exemplifying one of our many Fisher Vineyards mottos… when in doubt, tarp it!), are being put into place and tinkered with daily. It looks like harvest is still a few weeks off here at Fisher, but you never know.
Debra is also busy in preparation… as cooler days near, she prepares both “held shipments” and Fall Release (’07 Whitney’s Vineyard, Chardonnay and 2006 Coach Insignia, Cabernet) wine shipments. Judging from this stack of boxes ready to go out the door, there are about to be a lot of happy people around the country!
Harvest bins stacked in the driveway; wine ready to be shipped!; A wasp nest above the trees near the sorting table… this is tomorrows project, yikes!
Lastly, as we pause in preparation for the impending action, I’d like to introduce you to our harvest intern, Jose. Attending Fresno State during the school year, Jose is busy earning his Oenology degree and will be a great addition to our wine team in the coming months. Jose just started with us about a week ago and is in for a busy few months! We’ll check back in with him later this fall to see how he’s holding up!
Jose and Assistant Winemaker, Jared; Our press, covered with a blue tarp
My Aunt Sue from Mendocino was just down visiting us. She came in search of a little sunshine (which we’ve been having plenty of!) and for some of our great garden produce. The peaches are just starting to ripen and the boughs of the tree are wallowing with the load. We are also getting lots zucchini and green peppers of all kind! I’m hoping our tomatoes start to come along too, although everything we have is still green. I think it’s going to be a late harvest for everything… including the grapes.
At any rate, while visiting, Sue discovered that she also needed our pizza dough recipe! In her haste to return home, she did not have time to copy it down so for Sue and all of our enthusiastic pizza eaters, here it is!
PIZZA DOUGH
from
THE FISHER VINEYARDS KITCHEN
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup luke warm water
- 4 cups of flour
- 1 cup cool water
-1 T sea salt
- 2T olive oil
Wisk yeast, luke warm water and 1/2 cup flour in Kitchen Aid bowl. Then cover with tea towel and let sit for 20 minutes.
Add 3 cups flour, 1 cup cool water, olive oil, salt and start kneading with dough hook on low speed. Gradually increase speed to medium and add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour as needed to make dough slightly moist and soft. Knead dough until smooth, silky, and dough adheres to hook in a ball.
Scrap dough out onto floured counter and knead lightly folding dough over on itself.
Shape into a ball and cover with a towel. Let rise for 1 hour or until double in size.
Punch down dough and roll into a flat log, then cut into 5 equal pieces and roll into balls. At this point you may cover the balls in saran wrap and freeze, or flatten, dust with flour and cover with slightly damp tea towel until time to use.
Juelle at the helm; Portobello Mushroom pizza… yummmm
TOPPING SUGGESTIONS…
Let your imagination run wild! We make these differently everyday, but here are some ideas to get your brain excited…
Sautéed onions, gorgonzola cheese, white balsamic (reduced), oregano and sea salt.
Apples/Peaches/ or Figs with Fontina. Simply brush dough with olive oil, assemble fruite and cheese, sprinkle with salt.
Margarita – mozzarella, tomatoes (baby cherry tomatoes if you can find them… delicious and look pretty!), basil and procuitto.
The Wedding weekend officially began with the Rehearsal Dinner at the Old Barn in Calistoga. As you can see, Juelle really had the place shining! We hung a large American flag from the barn in honor of the Fourth of July and had floral arrangements of Agapanthus lining the table like small bursts of fireworks. It was a festive night in all senses of the word!
For dinner we had John Stewart and Duskie Estes from Zazu Restaurant… if you have not been, do make a point of going next time in the Valley. Their food is just our style… REALLY good! It’s simple, FRESH, and delicious. For dinner they served slow roasted pig, big fresh heirloom tomatoes, cornbread to die for, and fresh arugala salad. It was so fitting for the weekend – a little Americana with a Napa Valley twist! Scroll through the photo album below for a few shots of their dishes…
The Wedding celebration was held up at the winery beginning with a walk through the caves and barrel tasting. We then ascended the mountain for cocktails on the Wedding Terrace. Incredibly enough, the fog rolled in and we were almost chilly! …at least until the band began to play at which point jackets, sweaters, and pashminas were thrown to the wayside and everyone began to strut their stuff… even Fred got out and danced about!
Rob and Heather are off on their honeymoon. We have not heard a word so imagine they are having the time of their lives! Will be great to get them back home next week to share the stories.
Its been on my mind to post this recipe for weeks now…
About a month ago, my mom went to visit her sister in Paris for ten days. The mission of the trip? To begin writing a cookbook! For years, these two have been preparing phenomenal meals for their family and friends and for years we have all begged for their recipes. The trouble is, they are the kind of spontaneous chefs who use recipes more as a guideline than fact. “A little of this, a little of that,” and wah la – delicious.
On this escapade, they visited the markets, took lots of pictures and began melding their styles… my mom, as “country mouse,” will provide the rustic recipes we have loved so much at the winery. My aunt, as “city mouse,” will provide the more refined recipes to really impress!
I couldn’t wait, however, to share this particular recipe my mom brought home with her… in my opinion, this may be served any time of day and is the perfect ending or beginning! It is not too sweet and maintains its moisture for days. You can bake this on Sunday and enjoy all week (assuming you have enough restraint!)
Fabulous Financiers Ingredients
- 12 Tbls. unsalted butter, melted and cooled (3/4 cup)
- 1 cup ground almonds – we use a brand called Red Mill, almond meal/flour)
- 1 2/3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- A bit of lemon zest
- 5 egg whites
- Fresh fruit – your choice depending on season. We have been using raspberries, pears, or apricots
Process
1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F. With a pastry brush, butter the financier molds (or pie tin if you chose to make a cake). Place the molds in freezer to re-solidify the butter.
2. In a large bowl, combine almonds, sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt. Mix to blend. Add the egg whites and mix until thoroughly blended. Add the remaining melted butter to mix until thoroughly blended.
3. Spoon batter into the molds. Arrange fruit down the center of each mold and bake 7 minutes. Turn oven down to 400 degrees and bake an additional 7 minutes. Then turn oven off and let rest in oven a final 5 – 7 minutes until firm.
4. Remove from oven and within the next 5 minutes remove from molds.
We make this recipe both as a cake (above with pear slices) or in smaller, individual, rectangle molds
The Chef’s: Aunt Jen, Mom, and Me at a cooking class in Paris, 2007
Beautiful colors of produce that inspire us at “Le Marche”… lettuces and radishes, Aubergines, The Creperie… yummm!
The 2007 Chardonnays are officially in bottle! As we produce so little Chardonnay, we were able to complete bottling of the 2008 Rose, 2007 Mountain Estate Vineyard and 2007 Whitney’s Vineyard, Chardonnay, all in just a few hours.
The day started out well, but by about 9:00am the clouds became dark and it began raining! Luckily, Whitney had ordered a tent and set up tarps the night before to keep all of the glass, boxes, and pallets dry. Good move Whit!
This year we bottled our first-ever half-bottles! We did 54 half-bottle cases that are headed directly to two local restaurants. Big success! As this was our first round of half-bottles, I was sure we would encounter some kind of oversight – the wrong size cork, problems applying the foils, issues with the labels etc… but indeed it went smoothly and the package does looks slick!
A pallette of glass bottles; Glass being loaded onto the line; Chardonnay bottles getting packed into boxes
Boxes coming off the line; A finished pallette ready to quench thirsty fans!; Jared on the forklift (note the creative rain cover!)
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February 7, 2011 
Posted in In the Garden 
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